Aquaria

The morning before we headed out to Aquaria, we looked through some books on sea creatures (photos not illustrations) and did a matching game (between toy ocean animals and the pictures in his book). That was to gear him up to the actual visit. In fact in the past few weeks we have been talking and reading a bit on sea creatures.

He was so excited upon entering Aquaria last Tuesday. Even while I was waiting in line to buy the tickets, he had already wanted to go up close to the large exhibit of pirahna fishes, which was beyond the entrance barrier.

It was a really good trip. He thoroughly enjoyed himself. He was so excited that the went on the travellator through the underwater tunnel, not once or twice...but FIVE times!

He loved the shark, sting ray, shovel-nose ray and the santa claus diver feeding the fishes amongst others. There were not just fishes but reptiles, butterflies, spiders and bugs being displayed.

I was happy that they had an exhibit on the life cycle of the frog, and that he was curious about it (he visually compared the different tanks - no legs; 2 legs; 4 legs, shorter tail; full frog). It was real eggs, real tadpoles, real froglets (almost a full grown frog - I learnt some new things there too!), real frog. Certainly more interesting compared to learning from books.

For the butterfly life cycle, it was animated, and shown on electronic display. Good enough, but not quite the same. Perhaps for that I could take him to the Butterfly Park.

I showed him most of the exhibits but was unsure if anything was absorbed. Later in the day, I found out that he did.

When we got home, we looked through some books which reinforced what he saw at Aquaria earlier. I was surprised that he remembered the snake-necked turtle that was trying to climb out of the tank. He also remembered the puffer fish had puffed up because the sting ray got too close to it and scared it.

He also wasnt scared of approaching Santa. He clapped to welcome Santa, when asked to by the emcee. Nearer the souvenier shop, there was the opportunity to take a photo with Santa. He was brave enough (but a little hesistant) to go sit on Santa's lap for a photo. I guess this environment was different from the Christmas party with Santa in school. At school, the kids went crazy when Santa threw candy into the crowd. There was also loud music (unnecessary really) and loud ringing of the bell. At Aquaria, although there was a similar sized crowd, it wasn't noisy or rowdy.

When asked if he liked Aquaria, he replied yes. When asked if he preferred Aquaria or Genting, he replied he liked Aquaria and Genting. "Super duper duper fun", he says.